Barnett Shale

Barnett Shale Newsletter offers information map

The Powell Barnett Shale Newsletter, a subscription-only electronic publication aimed at industry insiders, has created the Barnett Shale PowerMap©, which allows users to view production data for individual wells that can be searched for by location. The map covers the Barnett Shale and other fields in the Fort Worth Basin. To give it a try, visit the newsletter at http://www.barnettshalenews.com. There is a link to the map, along with instructions on how to use it.

The map displays Texas Railroad Commission data, but people who have attempted to use the Railroad Commission's own production information system (http://gis2.rrc.state.tx.us/public/) should find the newsletter's map vastly easier to use. The map will be free through June 15, after which it will require a subscription.

-- Jim Fuquay

Bigger than expected

The Barnett Shale is booming much larger than even some of the most optimistic projections have said.

The country's hottest natural-gas play grew by more than half in one year, whereas economist Ray Perryman projected annual growth of only a 19 percent annual growth. Another amazing statistic is that the economic significance of the Barnett Shale is like taking 8 percent of the North Texas economy and dropping it right on top for extra cash, Perryman said.

Consider some of the other stats from the Waco-based economist's latest Barnett Shale study:

• $8.2 billion in economic output for 2007, up 58 percent from the $5.2 billion in 2006
• 83,823 jobs somehow tied in to the Barnett Shale in 2007, up 51 percent from the 55,385 jobs in 2006

And here are PDFs of his studies:

Download 2008_Summary.pdf

Download 2008_Report.pdf

Download Barnett_Shale_Impact_Study.pdf

-David

Compressor in Johnson County riles homeowner

  This is a tale of two compressor stations. As far as Rick Putchio is concerned, one of them represents the best of oilfield practices, and one represents the worst. Putchio is upset with the station that EOG Resources built within earshot of a house he owns in rural Johnson County, south of Mansfield, so much so he's created a Web site denouncing the Houston-based producer. That's one of his pictures above of EOG's Big Daddy compression station. It's out in the open with only a large noise barrier on the west side of the facility, between the five compressors and the nearest house.

Just down County Road 514 is a similar-size XTO Energy compression station. But XTO's compressors are housed inside a sound-insulated building. We drove by one breezy morning. The XTO station was barely audible above a stiff southwest wind, while EOG's mechanical whine could be heard at least a quarter-mile downwind. Putchio calls it noise pollution and says he has complained to EOG to no effect. An EOG representative said Friday that the company "addresses each operating site on a case-by-case basis to minimize the impact on our neighbors," but declined further comment.

  Jim Fuquay

EOG Resources goes for oil in the Barnett Shale

EOG Resources, the No. 3 producer of natural gas in the Barnett Shale, caused a stir Thursday with its announcement it intends to produce oil from 250,000 acres it has leased in Montague, Clay and Archer counties. That's on the northern fringe of the Barnett Shale, where the formation has a higher content of crude oil than elsewhere. EOG's activities there won't affect the "core" area of the Barnett Shale, made up largely of Tarrant, Johnson and Denton counties, where the rock contains mostly natural gas.

For a full report, see the Star-Telegram's news story here.

Pioneer Resources buys Shell Oil's Barnett Shale holdings

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. said Tuesday it agreed to pay $150 million for Shell Exploration and Production's approximately 50,000 net acres (74,000 gross acres) in the Barnett Shale, which Houston-based Shell put up for sale in June. More than half the acreage is in Parker County and the remainder in Bosque, Erath, Hamilton and Somervell counties. Pioneer, based in Irving, said the deal will boost its Barnett Shale acreage to 87,000 gross acres.

In a separate announcement of the sale, Shell said it drilled about 30 horizontal wells in the field,  but "we did not acquire sufficient critical mass or sufficient contiguous acreage to support our own internal performance requirements." When the Star-Telegram first reported Shell's plans to sell its holdings, observers said the properties could be worth up to $200 million. Shell was the first multinational oil company to enter the Barnett Shale when it teamed with Sundance Resources of Rio Vista in September 2005.

-- Jim

Range Resources reports record production

Range Resources reported third-quarter earnings of $58.9 million, or 39 cents a share, on revenues of $242.4 million, as oil and gas production hit a record 326 million cubic feet a day of natural gas equivalents a day. The Fort Worth-based producer’s Barnett Shale output rose to 66 million cubic feet of gas daily, up about 150 percent since the start of the year, and the company’s Ellis County well testing the eastern extent of the field went on line at 1.5 million cubic feet daily. That well hit a 314-foot-thick section of the shale, and Range said it expects during the fourth quarter to drill a second well in the area, where it holds 20,000 net acres.

XTO adds to Barnett Shale holdings

XTO Energy said Tuesday it paid $550 million for 24,000 net acres of leases in the Barnett Shale with estimated proved reserves of more than 200 billion cubic feet of natural gas and daily production of about 25 million cubic feet a day in gas equivalents. The Fort Worth-based company, already one of the busiest drillers in the field, also said it has identified between 300 and 350 additional drilling locations on the properties for future development that potentially could more than double reserves. The acreage, acquired from multiple unnamed sellers, brings XTO's Barnett Shale holdings to 240,000 net acres.

-- Jim

Devon drills 1,000th horizontal well in Barnett Shale

Devon Energy, the largest natural gas producer in the Barnett Shale and also in Texas, said Wednesday it is drilling its 1,000th horizontal well in the Barnett Shale. The well, near Boyd, is expected to cost between $2.5 million and $3.3 million, the company said. Devon, based in Oklahoma City, marked the occasion with a get-together of its more than 500 area employees at Texas Motor Speedway.